Edmonton’s Little Bits Riding Club looking for volunteers to saddle up

If you like horses and helping folks with disabilities enjoy a ride or two, here’s a suggestion: Saddle up and head to St. Albert.

The Little Bits Riding Club will welcome you with open arms.

In an attempt to provide more opportunities for people with disabilities, Little Bits has recently expanded to Horse Sense Training and Petting Zoo in St. Albert.

“It feels fun when I ride,” says Neal Mayan, who has autism and has been riding for the past 16 years.

“I have learned not to get too close to the horse in front. I like to tell the horse to ‘trot on.’ I like to brush the horse after my lesson and lead the horse out to his pen.”

Mayan’s mother, Cynthia Dickens, is the tireless volunteer president of Little Bits. She oversees fundraising for the program, which began giving lessons 35 years ago at the Whitemud Equine Centre.

Dickens says people with various disabilities, including cerebral palsy, autism and spinal cord injuries, are welcome. Little Bits volunteers help riders get on and off horses, and walk alongside during rides.

Dickens is excited about moving to St. Albert, but says the success of the program hinges upon getting more volunteers.

If you’re interested, please e-mail [email protected] or call 780-476-1233. Then riders like Mayan can keep riding. He loves to ride because, he says, “it is so much fun.”

- Take a few exotic cars. Add in a scavenger hunt, followed by dinner and fine wine at Jack’s Grill.

Give it a cause and you’ve got the annual Drive for Sight fundraising event for the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

That’s what’s going to happen July 10. Engines start purring at 4 p.m.

For two-and-a-half hours, teams of two — a driver and a navigator — will hit the pavement for a scavenger hunt.

Cars such as a Porsche 911 Turbo, Mercedes-Benz S65 and Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder will be part of the event.

Now, meet Mike and Nadine Seed. They started the Drive for Sight for their seven-year-old son Erick.

He has the genetic disease Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and has been blind since birth.

Funds from the event will go toward innovative vision research at hospitals and universities across Canada to find the causes, treatments and ultimately cures for genetic forms of blindness.

Last year $33,000 was raised.

Registration is $500 a car. For more information, zoom by www.driveforsight.com

- Congratulations to the folks who came together for the second Guru Goes Bollywood dinner and raised $188,870 for the Mental Health Foundation.

The Mental Health Foundation promotes hope through understanding, and is committed to raising funds and awareness for mental health and addiction challenges, through education and support programs.

Alberta Windows and The Rohit Group of Companies were the sponsors.